(February 21, 2023, St. John’s) – PC Official Opposition Shadow Minister responsible for Forestry and Agriculture, and MHA for Exploits, Pleaman Forsey, is reacting to the recent Request for Qualifications (RFQ) issued to repair the damaged CL-415 water bomber aircraft in the governments fleet.

“The Liberal government is only now getting around to starting a competitive process to repair the CL-415 water bomber that was damaged in 2018,” said Forsey.

“The fires of summer 2022 put the residents of Central Newfoundland at risk, and now government finally realizes they need to repair this aircraft.”

The recently issued RFQ specifically references the 2022 fires and the demands placed on firefighting operations.

“With the timeline on fixing this aircraft, we will not see our 5th water bomber return to operation for this coming season. This is yet another case of this Liberal government being reactive versus proactive. If the winds changed in Central during the fires last summer, there could have been a much more devastating impact. We were lucky this time, but the Liberal Government can’t rely on luck when it comes to public safety,” said Forsey.

“The Liberal Government has repeatedly said that they have been studying this issue since the aircraft was damaged back in 2018. Five years to study the need to fix this aircraft demonstrates a lack of leadership and understanding for keeping the residents of our province safe.”

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Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca